Rain Dog
New Member
So, last week I emailed the Seattle Parks Department about regulations/laws regarding metal detecting in city parks. I was curious if I needed a permit. This is the reply I received:
"Although there's no prohibition of metal detecting per se, Seattle Municipal Code 18.12.070 prohibits anyone from removing (or destroying, mutilating, or defacing) pretty much anything found in a park. We tell people who are interested in metal detecting that digging in loose sand at a beach would be no problem, provided there's no vegetation there (at Golden Gardens, for instance, there is beach vegetation that has been painstakingly restored), but that we wouldn't want any digging in turf or other kinds of ground."
However, the relevant portion (section B) of SMC 18.12.070 states only: "It is unlawful for any person except a duly authorized Department of Parks and Recreation or other City employee in the performance of his or her duties, or other person duly authorized pursuant to law, to remove, destroy,
mutilate or deface any structure, lawn, monument, statue, vase, fountain, wall, fence, railing, vehicle, bench, shrub, tree, geological formation, plant, flower, lighting system, sprinkling system, gate, barricade or lock or other property lawfully in any park, or to remove sand, soil, or sod in any park."
By my interpretation, this doesn't by any means prohibit metal detection and target recovery in Seattle parks--unless one automatically assumes metal detecting to be a "mutilating, defacing" endeavor, or that cutting a plug and pocketing what one finds is equivalent to "removing sand, soil or sod...," especially if what one finds/removes is not a "natural" part of the park, but essentially someone else's "garbage" or lost article...
Thoughts?
"Although there's no prohibition of metal detecting per se, Seattle Municipal Code 18.12.070 prohibits anyone from removing (or destroying, mutilating, or defacing) pretty much anything found in a park. We tell people who are interested in metal detecting that digging in loose sand at a beach would be no problem, provided there's no vegetation there (at Golden Gardens, for instance, there is beach vegetation that has been painstakingly restored), but that we wouldn't want any digging in turf or other kinds of ground."
However, the relevant portion (section B) of SMC 18.12.070 states only: "It is unlawful for any person except a duly authorized Department of Parks and Recreation or other City employee in the performance of his or her duties, or other person duly authorized pursuant to law, to remove, destroy,
mutilate or deface any structure, lawn, monument, statue, vase, fountain, wall, fence, railing, vehicle, bench, shrub, tree, geological formation, plant, flower, lighting system, sprinkling system, gate, barricade or lock or other property lawfully in any park, or to remove sand, soil, or sod in any park."
By my interpretation, this doesn't by any means prohibit metal detection and target recovery in Seattle parks--unless one automatically assumes metal detecting to be a "mutilating, defacing" endeavor, or that cutting a plug and pocketing what one finds is equivalent to "removing sand, soil or sod...," especially if what one finds/removes is not a "natural" part of the park, but essentially someone else's "garbage" or lost article...
Thoughts?